Lenah S. Higbee

Lenah S. Higbee was born on May 18, 1874, in Chatham, Canada. She served in the United States Navy from 1908-1922.

On October 3 1908 president Theodore Roosevelt signed the Naval Appropriations Bill allowing white women to work in U.S. Navy for the first time as Nurse Corps, African American women were denied the opportunity to serve until 1944. The first group ever was a group of 20 women called “The Sacred Twenty”. The photo of these women was taken from just outside the Washington Hospital.

Higbee became Chief Nurse at Norfolk Naval Hospital in 1909 and the second superintendent of the Corps in 1911. Along with leading the Nurse Corps during World War I, Higbee also lead Nurse Corps through the Spanish Influenza pandemic. She became the first-ever woman to be awarded the Navy Cross in 1922. The Navy Cross medal is awarded to someone who stands out in a fight by displaying great bravery. There were 3 other women that were given this award but were victims of the flu.

Lenah S. Higbee passes in Winter Park, Florida, on 10 January 1941 of old age. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia. In honor of Higbee’s life, the ship Higbee (DD-806) was named after her, it is the first combat warship named after a female member of the U.S. Navy. USS.